Jannik Hansen Suspended 1 Game

Just after 6 PM ET, the NHL posted the suspension video for Jannik Hansen on their website. Apparently, that posting was done prematurely, as it was removed once I posted it here.

Brendan Shanahan notes in the video that Hansen was behind Hossa, had a closed fist, and did not extend his arm into the back of Hossa’s head until he had already made contact with the puck. The suspension is one game.

We’ll see how long it takes the league to put the video back up on their site. But the Shanaban has spoken.

As we all know, Keith got FIVE games for what might be considered a similar “hockey play”…except that Hossa did not drive his shoulder into the back of Hansen’s head smashing it into the glass about 30 seconds before the play like Daniel Sedin did to Keith (- no penalty called).

I believe this decision not only sends the wrong message to the Cansucks, “It’s OK to cheap shot – the penalty will be minimal”, but it may also leave some of the Hawks players feeling dissatisfied enough to take action themselves next time the teams meet.

I agree, why bother with 1 game. This should have been dealt with before Dunc got
suspended last March. I would like to think all this bs could have been avoided. Mostly I just hope Hoss will not have a set back. On or off the ice . The best thing to do is keep beating the nucks on the scoreboard.

I am surprised, as clearly it wasn’t a hockey play to jab his elbow and forearm into Hossa’s unprotected and vulnerable head…1 game is disappointing, and likely the next time these 2 teams meet, it will get ugly…the NHL will be to blame for this, by not taking unsolicited head shots seriously…

I can’t believe that I am actually going to agree with JS……..LOL…….what is the world coming to????

We don’t need retribution or “payback” when it comes to the Canucks. We simply need to beat them on the score board. Plain and simple. To say that we need to target their players or go after their players is simply stooping to their level. Let’s face it, the Hawks are a class organization from Rocky down to the ice girls. They don’t need to stir the pot with claims of “let’s get him” and “let’s put Carcillo, Bollig and Mayer’s on a line and kill ’em”.

In my mind, there is nothing wrong with using a situation like this for motivation for winning games. In this situation, it’s not “an eye for an eye”, it’s just go out and beat them and win the cup.

I saw the video on the NHL network this morning. I like the video break down and throught process that Shanny provides, he clearly states what he see’s and why the ruling is what it is. Two thumbs up for the this. I figured this was a 1 or 2 game suspension but nothing more. I’m more bothered by Punk comment from AV who is a classless piece of garbage. He’s NHL Jim Schwartz. Funny POS coaches have POS players on their teams, what a coincidence. Or is it. Go Hawks! I saw on rotoworld that Steve Montador is skating will he play this year???

The Department of Player Safety needs to be renamed to Department of Propaganda because clearly the league is more intent in appearing like they want to reduce brain trauma injuries than they are in actually taking the serious and necessary action that would result in reducing brain trauma injuries.

A one game suspension or even a five game suspension has proven to be an ineffective deterrent in changing the culture that enables the players to cause these injuries. The dirty little secret is that what is needed is more than just trying to eliminate the blatant intentional cheap shot which is clearly outside the bounds of a “normal hockey play”, it is also eliminating reckless and dangerous plays that fall within the current bounds of a “normal hockey play”. In other words, the league is addressing the blatant intentional cheap shot plays, albeit ineffectively, while plays that result in brain trauma injuries that are deemed “clean” by the letter of the rules are not being addressed at all.

Let me be specific and cite two examples. The first, Duncan Keith’s head shot on Daniel Sedin last season, was clearly of the blatant intentional cheap shot variety that fell outside the bounds of a “normal hockey play”. Regardless of the extenuating circumstances, it did in fact result in brain trauma injury and should be eliminated from the game. That play was addressed by the league and suplemental discipline was handed down in the form of a five game suspension. The effectiveness of the penalty can (and should) be questioned, but at least that play was acknowledged to be one that needs to be eliminted. The second example I will cite is the hit that Willie Mitchell put on Jonathan Toews a few years ago. While that play was deemed “clean” because it happened in the course of a “normal hockey play” and Mitchell did not break any rules by launching himself into Toews or extending his elbow as point of contact, etc., he did in fact willfully hit Toews in such a manner that caused Toews to be concussed. While it’s doubtful that Mitchell wanted to inflict permanent damage to Toews, he did want to hit the snot out of him and “send him into next week” so he took advantage of an unsuspecting Toews. Perfectly legal hit and the old adage “you’ve got to keep your head up” was rolled out in defense of Mitchell’s action.

That needs to change, and that requires a change to the culture that allows players to hide behind “normal hockey play” when in fact they intentionally followed through with a reckless and dangerous play in that split second of a decision where they could have backed off enough to not seriously injure a fellow player.

To be clear, I’m not advocating the elimination of hard aggressive play, body checks, or fighting between two willing participants., I wouldn’t want to change the tenor of the game. What I am advocating is changing the culture of the game so that players are held accountable for following through with head shots and blindside hits. Players know when they have someone lined up for that type of hit and they consciously make to decision to follow through with it or back it down a notch. Too many times the player chooses to follow through with it because the culture enables, if not glorifies that type of play. That is what needs to be changed to better protect players from these brain trauma injuries.

Ebony, in order to change the culture of the game, you need to start at the squirt level and work upward. USA hockey is attempting to educate children, parents, coaches AND referee’s on the importance of head trauma, checks from behind and illegal hits of any kind that risk serious injury.

You are exactly right, in order to protect the players, the CULTURE needs to change and it starts when the kids are small and beginning to play the game. When you are raised to play the game and “hit anything that moves”, you begin to take that in a literal sense.

In my opinion, you won’t see a serious change in culture for about another 10-15 years because that is when the younger kids, who were raised to play the game safely and correctly, will begin to see the NHL level and play the game differently.

USA hockey has been preaching a higher level of safety for the last 8-10 years. It’s a hard adjustment to make for everyone. The coaches have to believe in it and teach it, the parents have to remind their kids about it, the referee’s have to enforce it and the players have to want to play with more caution, which is difficult to do.

Your point is well taken, Ebony, but at the NHL level, “anything goes”.

Willie Mitchel hit was all manner of clean. It was an awesome hit. Lining up players like that is a lost art. Same goes for the hip check. Should they ban open ice hits in the name of safety?

Should they re-institute clutching so you can slow someone down instead of hammering them? Would make for a super exciting product to sell… Not.

Constant head trauma in terms of blows to the head in both boxing, fighting in hockey and heading in soccer has shown to have detrimental effects over time and that information is well documented. Should they ban fighting in hockey, heading in soccer and eliminate boxing or mixed martial arts for safety concerns? Really?

The players are part of a union that has the biggest impact setting the rules regarding player safety. Said union can strike if they feel the rules or compensation aren’t good enough. The league has zero responsibility other than enforcing the rules. Also, in any contact sport for entertainment, these players are well compensated and know the risks involved in lacing up every night. If they did not want to be subject to such risks than they should find another occupation.

I’m sick and tired of hearing about Duncan Keith’s elbow to Sedin’s face, that play was last season and Keith served the suspension. Was it malicious, yep. Dirty absolutely, and it was retaliation for a previous game. It doesnt change the fact that the Nucks are dirty and that starts with AV, as long as he is the coach nothing will change. I really dislike Canucks fans on her dropping their logic about their classless organization.

Tom J. – good points regarding the effort to change the ‘kill em’ attitude now being taught to the kids, and hopefully that evolution results in less brain injuries in the future. But, I’m not buying that something more can’t be done at the NHL level right now. I don’t have all the answers to effectively change the culture of the game regarding head shots and blind side victim hits while still maintaining the integrity and excitement of the game, but I do know that what is currently considered clean, legal and normal hockey plays all too often result in a player getting permanently injured – which is what brain trauma and concussions are – permanent injuries. Something more needs to be done than is currently being done.

SouthSideHawkFan – I’m sick of hearing about Keith on Sedin too – especially from those hypocritical nuck fans who think their players are pure as the driven snow while Keith is equivalent to an axe murderer – I simply used Keith on Sedin as an example. I could have and maybe should have used a different example – there certainly is no shortage of examples.

As usual many good points made here in response to the Hansen wrist slap by the league. I believe the players could better achieve due justice if the instigator penalty was changed or removed. The foaming indignation about all of this from the Nuck fans is amazing on tsn.ca. Hilarious reading from the “conspiracy theorists”.

I agree with the point made about the Hawks just playing hard with four lines running in response to whatever aggression the Canuckleheads want to bring. In the end the better team should win, and in this case I believe we have a better roster(when healthy) than they do.

Disturbing in all of this remains the reality that cheap shots taking out the better players to influence games has not changed. Ultimately, the decisions are with the guys on the ice. Some teams are obviously more guilty of this than others. In the end with hockey, you give and you get. Hawks flying on top of the conference means others will be coming for us every game. The short season schedule favors skill teams in my opinion, since the hard working physical grinder teams can’t maintain that pace for 60 minutes with little rest in between games. Let’s Go Hawks!

Ebony, I think the only thing that can be done at the NHL level is already being done. Shanahan investigates every late hit, head hit and major penalty in detail. They never did this 5 years ago. The NHL never had a “department of player safety”. Obviously, the NHL see’s exactly what we, as fans, are seeing.

The “department of player safety” even meets with the teams before the season starts in a teleconference and goes over rules, safety conditions and player safety, in general. The NHL is trying to make itself a safer league, even though the speed of the game is so fast and so dangerous, that a player can have a clean shoulder to shoulder hit and get a concussion from the impact and whiplash effect the hit has on his body.

What the NHL may need to do is SLOW down the game, a bit. The players are trained for strength and speed, so they are bigger, stronger and faster than ever before, the equipment is much lighter, the ice surface is better, the skates are made for more speed, the rules are even set up for more speed. So just like an expressway where everyone travels at 80MPH, when you slow the speed down, you have less crashes, less incidents and less injuries.

Someday, you’re going to see a goalie get his neck sliced by a player “crashing the net”. When he dies on the ice, then someone may say, “maybe we should do something about the speed of the game”. When you slow the game down, you’ll have less reckless incidents, cheap shots and concussions. You’ll still have the occasional cheap shot, but nothing like there is now. Every player is taking runs at every other player. It’s ridiculous sometimes!!

The NHL should do (2) things to slow the game down: Put the pegs back in the goal posts and put the red line back in play. Leave everything else alone.

AS A PLAYER AND FAN OF THE GAME, I like the “no red line” rule and the “obstruction rules”. I love the NHL and hockey in general as a fast paced, tough game that is played by skilled athletes. But I would also like to see less injuries to the players that I love to watch play the game.

@Tom J. Your point about the speed of the game contributing to the increase in collision injuries is true and the removal of the redline and the breakaway nets certainly have made the game faster. I too would not want to see the redline come back although I could be easily talked into favoring the return to solid nets. I wouldn’t want to see the pace of the game slow down because that is one of the main ingredients that makes hockey such a joy to watch.

The change that often gets a large portion of the blame for the increase of cheap shots and reckless play is the instigator rule and I’m in the camp that thinks the unintended consequences of that rule outweigh the reason it was instituted in the first place and should be done away with. The idea that fighting is going to be more offensive to potential new fans and lucrative TV contracts than players literally knocked out with thugish cheap shots must now be seen as absurd. Recsinding the instigator penalty won’t eliminate all the brain trauma injuries but it will mitigate the bad behavior to some extent and that would be a step in the positive direction.

JS you ask a good question regarding the instigator rule. Plays similar to what we saw the other night with Hoss as well as the Torres thuggery last year without the instigator rule would have allowed the players to administer whatever justice they felt necessary based on what happened on the ice. I think it would act as a deterrent. Sure maybe you get a roughing penalty thrown in, but a lot of the CS would go away. I see both sides here, but I think there is a grey area where the refs know what has happened on the ice that has started a fight where guys have squared off. I don’t want to see the NHL as the WWF, but without fighting the size and speed of the players on the ice in the NHL leaves lots of room for guys to take liberties without fear of retribution. There are good arguments either way and I see why the rule was initiated. Here is an example:

Roughly 34 game minutes before the Hansen cheap shot on Hossa, Bollig punched Weise in the face a bunch of times in reaction to the hit on Kruger. Did that at all deter Hansen from hitting Hossa in the back of the head? NO.

If you recall the playoffs when Torres murdered Hossa on ice, Bollig chased him down and tried to punch him in the face. You know what Torres did? Turtled and the Coyotes ended up on the man advantage.

Punching people in the face WILL NOT DETER CHEAPSHOTS. There was an example of how useless fighting is in the first period of that game. You watched the first period, right?

JS, you make a great arguemet and I can see your theory. Again, me and you agreeing on this shocks me, but I’m okay with it…..LOL. However, we have been talking about “culture change” in the NHL and I believe a culture change has taken place over the last 6-8 years, which I believe is the time the “instigator rule” has been enforced.

The culture change is simple, players can cheap shot someone because teams are preaching “no retaliation” due to the instigator penalty. Back in the day (JS-here I go, again….LOL) when a player could protect his teammate by fighing, the cheap shots were few and far between. I can plainly see what Phil is getting at, here. The bully on the playground takes your lunch……your big brother goes and beats up the bully………nobody touches your lunch, anymore. The logic is there and I understand it, completely.

Your logic about Weise is all wrong, though. Bollig’s encounter with Weise was NOT a deterrant for the Hansen hit on Hossa. But I know that for the rest of that game, Weise never even came close to a Blackhawk player. Again, in the NHL, that type of retribution is necessary at the right time and for the right reason.

I wish we had a game tonight so we had a new topic… but I just happened to go over to CBC Sports to get a look see. I know this proves nothing but its hard to believe some folks
could even claim Hossa took a dive. Other crazy observations on the play at..

Ryan, you are correct, let’s talk about another victory. San Jose is going to come in here and try to play a physical, keep the puck on the boards, game. That works for awhile with the Hawks, but over an entire game, their speed and skill will take over and eventually they will win.

Our PP has to be crisp and our PK has to pressure the points. Seabrook and Hossa should play and if Razor is sharp in the net and Sharp is back in his groove, we’ll win and go onto the next game.